


After the Storm

by lakesandquarries



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD, also b/c this apparently has to be said: don't interact with me or my fics if u ship tom and sonic, being alone for like 10 years is seriously traumatic and i wanna write about that, idk what i'm doing! i am just vibing!, me frantically writing this fic trying to be one of the first people in the tag: gotta write fast!!!, please get this kid some therapy!!, this is mostly gonna be soft but we are gonna delve into some trauma stuff here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22821883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lakesandquarries/pseuds/lakesandquarries
Summary: Sonic adjusts to his new life, with friends and family and a freedom he hasn't known in a very long time. It turns out having people know about him is actually pretty nice.
Relationships: Maddie Wachowski/Tom Wachowski
Comments: 209
Kudos: 797





	1. Chapter 1

Tom Wachowski’s search history looks like this:

_-what do hedgehogs eat_

_-hedgehog care_

_-hedgehogs as pets_

_-can hedgehogs eat hot dogs_

_-adopting children_

_-how to raise adopted kid_

_-ptsd_

_-neglect_

_-how to help kid with ptsd_

_-accidentally adopted a kid_

_-help for adopted parents_

_-dr robotnik_

_-san francisco terrorist attacks_

_-therapists in my area_

_-can you tell therapists about illegal stuff_

_-therapist confidentiality_

_-how did my life end up like this_

_-really fast treadmill_

Sonic, luckily, walks in while he’s googling the last one.

“What’s that?” he asks, leaning against the couch. Tom shuts his laptop, stretching.

“It’s a secret,” he says, which gets him an eyeroll and a pout. Tom finally glances at the clock for the first time in….two hours, apparently. It’s barely noon. “Did you just wake up?”

Sonic nods, climbing over the arm of the couch to make himself comfortable. His...he doesn’t have eyebrows, per se, but his eyes squint in a way that on a human would look “worried”. “It’s okay you slept in, kiddo. S’been a busy few days.”

“I’ve never slept in a bed before,” Sonic says, which was what Tom has been thinking, but it’s a lot sadder to hear out loud. “Except that time in the hotel! That was a bed. But this one felt way comfier, and way cooler looking, and the blankets were so soft, and honestly I don’t think the other one counts because we were trying not to die and it’s really hard to sleep well like that. This was way better!”

“Hotel beds are weird,” Tom agrees, half listening to Sonic’s rambling. “You want breakfast? Well, I guess it’s brunch now.”

“Food?” Sonic asks, eyes going wider than should be physically possible. Tom assumes that’s a yes. He pushes himself off the couch, Sonic darting ahead to bounce around in the kitchen eagerly.

“You like eggs?” he asks, grabbing the carton from the fridge. Sonic shrugs. 

“Never had any before!”

Right. Sonic’s been hiding for most of his life. He seems so much like a normal kid, it’s easy to forget he’s some kind of magic alien. 

“Well, what kind of food do you like?”

Sonic shrugs again, climbing up onto the kitchen island. “I dunno! I just kinda eat whatever.” He pauses, going still for the briefest of moments. “If I tell you I did something illegal, are you gonna arrest me?”

Tom shakes his head emphatically. “I’m not gonna arrest you, Sonic.”

“Well….y’know the rat problem the local diner had? And the dumpsters getting broken into and stuff? And how raccoons keep getting everywhere?”

To say Tom is surprised would be a lie. A little sad that Sonic’s apparently been eating garbage for however long, but with everything else knows….yeah, that tracks. 

“Kid, how many weird conspiracies around here are actually just you?”

“Pretty much all of them? Except for the cow that got abducted that one time, that wasn’t me!”

“Gonna have to tell Annabelle to scrap her article on the town’s super smart raccoons,” Tom says, with a huff of laughter. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. No more breaking into grocery stores, okay? We’ll take you with us next time we go shopping.”

Tom has never seen someone look so excited about grocery shopping. Sonic beams at him, swinging his legs and kicking them against the island. “Really?”

“You can pick out anything you want,” Tom says.

\---

“Anything” turns out to be “everything”.

Sonic’s kind of an open secret, at this point. The town is small enough that, within a day of the the whole “Robotnik Incident”, everyone knows what happened and who was at the focus. And, to the town’s credit, people seem...surprisingly okay with it. So Tom doesn’t bother with any kind of disguise when he and Maddie take Sonic to the grocery store, and maybe a few people stare, but no one says anything other than “hi”, and “how are you?”, and “good to see you!” 

It’s not too busy, luckily. There’s maybe a handful of people at the store. Sonic still seems a little overwhelmed at the attention, but he does a good job managing, greeting everyone like old friends - which, from Sonic’s perspective, they kind of are. He’d told Tom all about how he’d watched the town, familiarized himself with its inhabitants, pretended to be a part of it (and he’d also, luckily, agreed to stop.) So while the townsfolk are meeting Sonic for the first time, Sonic has already known them for years.

The majority of people don’t seem to mind too much, and Sonic isn’t actually paying much attention to them anyway. He seems far more excited about the food. He’d started out in the cart, little legs kicking against the hard metal, but had ended up jumping out by the first row. It takes fifteen minutes to get down the chips aisle, as Sonic inspects every flavour and asks Tom his opinion, and that’s _before_ he notices the cookies on the other side. 

“You know, we go grocery shopping pretty much every week,” Maddie says as Sonic stares at the fifteen different varieties of oreos. He taps his foot on the ground, a frantic pace that Tom would usually think of as anxious but with Sonic is just normal. “How about you just pick one for today, and then try something else next time?”

The tapping slows a bit. “Next time?”

Maddie nods, reaching down to place a hand on Sonic’s shoulder. “We go through food pretty quick, so we’ll probably be back in less than a week. Or we can stop by whenever you want.”

Sonic throws the mint oreos into the cart. 

He moves quicker after that, darting back and forth between aisles and the cart, a little blue blur Tom has to be careful not to trip over. Maddie directs him towards some of the healthier options, too, fresh fruit and vegetables and food that isn’t full of sugar. She gives him a whole speech on vitamins and nutrients that Sonic very clearly does not listen to, seeing as he immediately starts grabbing cartons of ice cream once they’re in the dessert aisle.

By the time they’re at the checkout, the cart is overflowing. Sonic is a helpful hand with unloading, though Tom does have to give him a couple pointers. The cashier, a young lady named Jane who Tom recognizes from the time her dad called the police over his rat problem, smiles as she rings them up.

“Someone’s excited,” she comments, as the price climbs higher and Tom starts getting nervous. “Settling in well?”

Sonic beams at her. “They said I could get anything I wanted!”

“Made some good choices,” she says as she scans a carton of Ben & Jerry’s. 

Tom fishes his wallet out as she nears the last items, but she holds up a hand. “Hang on.” Jane rummages around her cash register, digging out a couple gift cards that she scans, along with a stack of coupons. By the time she’s done the total is nearly halved. “As a thank you,” she says, finally allowing Tom to hand over his debit card. 

Sonic tilts his head. “What’re you thanking us for? I mean, I know I’m pretty cool and all but - well, I did kinda almost get your city blown up!”

“You saved it in the end, though, didn’t you? Plus, Tom’s helped my family out a million times. About time I returned the favour.”

“Thank you,” Tom says, before Sonic can keep rambling. “We really appreciate it.” 

Jane finishes ringing them up, helping them bag everything and showing Sonic the best way to do it. He waves goodbye to her as they leave, yelling out another “Thank you!!” that’s loud enough to get the whole store’s attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really did not expect to be writing sonic fic at any point ever but the found family got to me and this is my life now.
> 
> idk what i'm doing! this is most likely gonna be a series of little domestic scenes and stuff, we'll see if i get actual plot ideas! feedback is highly appreciated, and i'm considering taking prompts if anyone has any!
> 
> title from July by Boy. please listen to it.
> 
> find me on tumblr or instagram or pretty much any website @ lakesandquarries!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic's eager to learn. Tom is happy to teach.

A brief list of things Sonic doesn’t know about:

\- scented candles

\- dinosaurs

\- microwaves

\- math

\- most foods, generally

\- dog food, specifically 

Sonic is eager to learn. There’s a certain Look he gets when encountering something new, tilted head and perked ears, that Tom is learning to recognize. And, for the most part, he’s easy to teach. The candles confuse him a little, until Maddie lights one for him. He’s delighted by the concept of dinosaurs, and figures out the microwave pretty quickly. Math...proves a bit trickier, but that one’s probably more on Tom and his lack of teaching skills. Food is easy to teach about. Tom just has to say something is food, maybe what type of food it is, and Sonic will dig in. He’s usually willing to try anything out.

This backfires.

“What’s that?” Sonic asks, bouncing on his heels as Tom pours kibble into Ozzie’s bowl.

“Dog food,” Tom says, and before he can even blink Sonic’s got a handful and he’s shoving it in his mouth. “Hold on, that’s not for -” _humans_ is what he was about to say, but, well, Sonic’s not a human. “You shouldn’t eat that,” is what he says instead.

Sonic frowns. He’s still chewing. “Why not? I mean, it’s not as good as the other stuff I’ve tried, but it’s not that bad! Ozzie seems to like it!”

Tom sighs. “That’s because Ozzie’s a dog. And this is dog food. It’s food for dogs. So, not for _people_ , and that includes hedgehogs.”

Sonic’s got that Look again, the confused one. He doesn’t say anything for a moment, which is never a good sign, instead tapping his finger against his chin thoughtfully. He seems like he’s mouthing something to himself - a newer habit of his. Now that there’s actually people around to hear him, he’s learning how to internalize his thoughts a bit more.

“Is there special hedgehog food?” is what he finally asks. His voice is light and cheerful and very clearly fake. 

“Yeah,” Tom says, not wanting to push him. “But dog and cat food is a lot more common to find.”

“Do any other animals have special food?”

At least this is a subject Tom knows a bit about, thanks to Maddie. He nods. ”Yeah, lots of animals do. At least, ones that are domestic - which are animals like pets, and farm animals, and things like that.”

Sonic has a lot more questions after that, enough that Tom ends up enlisting Maddie to help, because at a certain point Tom only knows so much, and the intricate nuances of what’s considered pets vs farm animals is definitely past him. But he’s glad Sonic asks them about things, that he’s interested in learning, that he’s comfortable enough to ask in the first place. 

He’s also glad that Sonic doesn’t try eating any more dog food.

* * *

There’s a couple things that are confusing Sonic.

Well, maybe more than a couple things. A lot more, actually! Sonic hasn’t quite figured out math yet, but he knows “a lot” is more than “a couple”. And there’s so much stuff that confuses him! He’d thought he had everything figured out from watching people, but apparently the world is way more complicated than he thought.

Like, dinosaurs! Tom had put on Jurassic Park for movie night, which Sonic had never actually seen before (it looked too scary), and afterwards Sonic had said he was glad dinosaurs weren’t real and Tom had told him they actually were!

Well, they used to be real, but that was billions of years ago or something, and they’re extinct now, which means they don’t exist anymore. And they probably can’t actually be brought back like in the movie. Sonic had made a joke about how Eggman was the kind of guy who’d wanna bring them back, and use them like in the movie, but Tom had gotten really quiet so Sonic had changed the topic.

Anyway! He liked getting to learn new stuff, even if some of it was less fun, like math. Math was hard. But dinosaurs were cool, and the microwave seemed pretty neat, and Tom kept showing Sonic all these new kinds of food and that was _awesome_. 

Except the dog food. That had been kinda awkward. Honestly, Sonic didn’t really get what the big deal was! Ozzie ate it, so it couldn’t be _bad_ , right? He was Tom’s Best Friend, and Tom would never do anything to hurt his Best Friend. And Ozzie ate human food all the time! So it should work the other way around, right?

And, well, that’s the other thing Sonic keeps thinking about. When Tom had tried to stop him, he’s said _that’s not for_ \- and then cut himself off.

Sonic can’t stop thinking about how he was gonna finish that sentence.

He doesn’t say anything about it that night. Or the night after. Or the night after that. But it’s there, in the back of his head, ‘ _that’s not for_ -’ for _what?_ He ends up staying up way past his usual bedtime, pacing back and forth and _thinking_. He’s getting better at thinking quietly, keeping it in his head, but he finds himself mumbling out loud as he tries to sort through this, acting out an argument. 

“He was just gonna say hedgehogs,” he says to himself, sitting on the beanbag. “Tom’s a smart guy! He wouldn’t say something stupid like -”

Lying across his bed, he counters - “Then why did he cut himself off? And say something completely different? He’s the _Donut Lord_ , he’s normally great at talking! He wouldn’t do something like that unless -”

On the beanbag again: “But he said later that it’s not for hedgehogs.”

“Not for _people_ . _Including_ hedgehogs.”

“Exactly! So that’s what he was gonna say there, too. He just didn’t wanna say the same thing twice.”

On the bed, he buries his face in the blankets, muffling his frustrated noises. He sits back up, staring at his hands, at his gloves, at the blue fur and quills.

He’s not human.

Tom knows this, Maddie knows this, Eggman knew it, the whole town knows it. And that’s fine! He’s the coolest hedgehog on the whole planet. He doesn’t _want_ to be human. Not even a little. He’s never, ever wished he was just a normal kid with a normal family who went to school and had friends and didn’t live in a cave. Not even once.

He’s also a really, _really_ bad liar, even when the only person he’s lying to is himself.

He doesn’t even realize he’s pacing until he feels that familiar, awful surge of energy, fur standing on end suddenly as electricity sparks between his quills.

“No, no, no!” He tries to pat it off him, but it just gets worse, bright blue arcing off him and shutting off the lamp by his bed. Before he can think better of it, he’s down the ladder and out the door, and by the time he realizes what he’s done he’s halfway to his old cave. Hopefully Tom didn’t notice him leaving. It is pretty late, after all. Tom should be asleep, not worrying about his...about….about….

“Stop it,” he says out loud, hoping it’ll make his spiralling thoughts slow down a bit. He’s fine. It’s fine! Maybe he’s basically just another pet for Tom and Maddie, but that’s not a bad thing, is it? Ozzie seems pretty happy. It’s _fine._ He’s never gonna fit in anywhere, not really, but this is the best he’s gonna get, and it’s good, and he shouldn’t ruin it all by asking for too much. He’s not gonna ruin this, not like he did with Longclaw. 

He runs a hand through his quills, and this time the electricity seems to be a bit better, so he starts back in the direction of the house. Not running, just walking, slow and steady. Calm.

He’s fine.

As he gets closer, he hears noises, indistinct at first but clearer with each step he takes, until he realizes what it is.

“Sonic!” Tom yells, and Sonic can see a flashlight beam cutting through the forest. “Sonic, where are you?”

Oh. Oh no.

He breaks into a sprint, nearly slamming into Tom. “I’m right here!” he says, waving his arms. 

Tom deflates, leaning forward with his hands on his thighs and breathing out slowly. “You scared me,” he says, sighing. 

“Oh,” Sonic says.

“It’s okay, just let me know if you need to go outside or anything, okay? Little concerning to hear a crash and go upstairs and see my - and see you missing.”

Sonic opens his mouth, intending to say _sorry_ or _okay, I won’t do that again_ or _I just needed to do something_ or literally anything else than what he actually says, which is: “What were you gonna say?”

“What?”

“You cut yourself off,” Sonic says. “You said it was concerning to hear a crash and go upstairs and see your - and then you cut off.”

Tom doesn’t respond, possibly because Sonic doesn’t actually give him time to. “And a couple days ago, when I tried Ozzie’s food, you told me to stop because it’s not for - and you cut yourself off. That’s _twice._ So it’s gotta mean something, right? I have to -” 

Sonic’s the one cutting himself off, this time. His throat feels clogged, like there’s something stuck there, and when he speaks he has to force the words out. “I’m _something,_ right?”

Tom kneels down so he’s eye level with Sonic. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Just breathe, okay?” 

Sonic sniffles a bit when he breathes in, but after a few rounds of in and out, Tom seems satisfied.

“How long have you been thinking about this?” Tom asks. Sonic shrugs.

“A while,” he admits.

Tom holds out his hand, waiting for Sonic to place his on top and gripping it gently. 

“Am I your best friend?” Sonic blurts out. Tom smiles.

“Not quite,” he says, placing his other hand on top of Sonic’s. “You’re family.”

“Like Ozzie?”

That gets a laugh out of Tom, somehow. “Sorta. But Ozzie’s a pet, like what we talked about the other day. He’s not a person. I love him a lot, and he’s part of the family, but it’s different than you or me or Maddie.”

“I’m not like you or Maddie either,” he says, wiggling his fingers. 

“Well, no. Most kids are pretty different from their parents.”

Sonic blinks at Tom, his mouth hanging open slightly. He uses his free hand to push it shut. “Parents?”

“That’s pretty much what we are, isn’t it? Teaching you things, making sure you’re safe, taking care of you….that’s what parents do. It’s not how Maddie and I originally planned to have kids, but….you’ve got a place here. And I’m sorry I didn’t make that more clear.”

Sonic’s vision is starting to get a bit blurry. He uses his free hand to wipe at his eyes, and his hand comes away wet.

“But what if Eggman comes back? Or something new happens? They’re still looking for me.”

“And I’m not gonna let ‘em find you.”

His legs feel weak, kind of like when Tom had first hit him with the tranquiliser. This time, when Sonic falls, Tom catches him. 

“Woah there,” he says, letting Sonic collapse against his shoulder. “Lets head back, okay?”

“Okay,” Sonic says into Tom’s shirt. He’s running his hand through his spikes, and that combines with the emotional whiplash of the last hour or so has him suddenly feeling _exhausted_. Tom carries him back to the house, and Sonic vaguely wonders why they’re not climbing up the ladder, but then he’s being placed in a bed and maybe it’s not his own but it’s warm and comfortable and he’s asleep in minutes.

\---

When he wakes up, Tom and Maddie are still there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was NOT supposed to get so emotional and i was originally planning the whole "parent" thing to happen later but i stayed up til 2 am last writing this and. well. here it is! hope you enjoyed.  
> comments are highly appreciated, and if you'd like to talk about the fic or sonic in general i'm on tumblr @ lakesandquarries. i'm also hoping to find beta readers so let me know if you're interested!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> whoops! it got sad!

In the month (well, half a month, technically) that Sonic has been living about the Wachowski’s, he’s said this much about his past:

\- foods he’s eaten

\- people he knows

\- where his cave is

\- how long he's been on earth, vaguely

The list of things he  _ hasn’t  _ mentioned is a lot longer. Sure, Tom and Maddie have asked him about stuff, but he’s good at deflecting, and all the parenting books Tom thinks he’s hiding say things like “don’t push” and “wait until your child is ready”. So, hopefully, he just has to wait a little while longer until they stop asking, and Sonic can just pretend his life actually started about a month ago. Or, half a month, since that’s when he actually moved in with them, and the updated backstory of Sonic Wachowski does not include living in a cave for  _ any _ amount of time, even if the cave was pretty cool. 

The issue is that his brain doesn’t seem to like this new backstory. Or at least, whatever part of his brain controls dream, because they keep getting worse. 

(He’d dreamt about Longclaw, the night before, in the last moments he saw her. In his dream he saw her bleeding and fighting and  _ dying _ and he tried to run to her but every time he got close the portal moved farther away, until suddenly it closed and he woke up about to scream her name.)

Even still, when Tom says it’s time for bed, he got up and made his way to the attic. There’s no reason to say anything about his dreams. He just needs to wait it out, and everything will be fine. Everything’s already fine! A few measly nightmares are nothing to Sonic Wachowski, hero of Green Hills. 

* * *

_ Robotnik’s back from the mushroom planet, and he’s shooting at him, at the whole town, and there’s only one thing Sonic can think of to do.  _

_ His legs hurt. His chest hurts. He’s never run this fast before, never run trying to actually protect people, and that’s the only thing keeping him moving. He can’t let anyone else get hurt.  _

_ Electricity explodes off of him and he grins, the static making his fur stand on end. It’s enough to stop Robotnik, maybe even crash his robot, stop him from hurting anyone. _

_ He tries to aim it, tries to direct all the energy to Robotnik, except it doesn’t want to be aimed. Maybe it can’t be aimed. Robotnik keeps moving, and Sonic keeps sparking, and the electricity keeps building, and he realizes just a moment too late that trying to use it like this was a mistake. He’s caught in the center of an explosion - or is he the explosion? - and while Robotnik is able to fly away easily, the town is not so lucky.  _

_ “No,” he whispers, “no no no, I didn’t -“ _

_ “Incredible,” Robotnik says. “You are a remarkable little creature. You keep insisting you want to protect your ‘friends’, but look at this!”Sonic shuts his eyes, trying to erase the reality around him, but Robotnik won’t shut up. “I could barely dream of causing this much carnage. The things we could achieve together…” _

_ “I won’t work with you!” Sonic yells. “I’ll - I’ll -“ _

_ He opens his eyes, sees the destruction around him, and he runs.  _

* * *

He’s running when he wakes up, legs kicking against the blanket, and for a second he doesn’t remember how to stop. 

He can’t breathe. He’s trying, inhaling frantically, but it’s not helping. All he can see is broken bodies and burned buildings, and he can feel the electricity building up again. 

He needs to go.  _ Now.  _ He stumbles out of bed, tangling himself in his blankets and accidentally knocking half his books off his nightstand. Standing back up is a struggle, made worse by the electricity sparking off him, but he’s just managed to stagger to his feet and climb down the ladder when he almost crashes into Tom. 

He dodges at the last second, hitting the wall instead and tripping yet  _ again _ into a heap on the floor. 

“Hey.” Tom’s leaning down so they’re eye level. “I thought I heard a crash, are you okay?”

He reaches out, gently touching Sonic’s shoulder - and then there’s a  _ pop _ and he recoils, hand smoking. 

“ _ Ow, _ ” Tom says, shaking his hand. Tom glances at his hand - his fingers are singed - and then holds it up, placating. The way Sonic has seen him do with some of the bigger wildlife, the scarier ones. The ones that might hurt him. “Sonic, buddy, you alright there?”

A million thoughts run through his head, half of which end up tumbling out of his mouth as he climbs to his feet. “I had a dream,” he says, “and people got hurt and I don’t think I’m safe to be around anymore and I don’t wanna hurt you or anyone else so I’m just gonna go, okay? Thanks for everything, I’ll see you around, I’m just -”

“Hang on, slow down,” Tom says. “I can’t understand what you’re saying. You had a nightmare?”

“I have to leave,” Sonic blurts out. 

“No one’s going anywhere. It’s like 3 am. C’mere, let's go find Ozzie, and -“

“I hurt you,” Sonic says, pointing at Tom’s hand. 

Tom holds up his hand, wiggling his fingers. “A little banged up, but nothing that won’t heal. It’s okay,” he says, but he’s  _ lying _ , Sonic can see him wincing, can see the nervous look in his eyes, the sweat dripping down his forehead - Tom is scared of him. 

“I have to leave,” he says again, and then he does.

* * *

He doesn’t go to the cave this time. 

“Never stop running,” Longclaw had told him. He’d thought she was trying to protect him. But - what if - what if she meant it to protect other people?

He’s dangerous. It seems like his powers just keep growing, and he doesn’t know how to make them stop, and at some point he’s gonna do something worse than accidentally shock Tom. 

Maybe the dreams were trying to send him a message. He can’t just erase his whole life, because that’s what his life is supposed to be. Settling down, being part of a family, that’s not what he’s meant for. It’s not safe, for him or for anyone else.

He’d forgotten how cold it got at night.

It’s fine. He survived before, he can do it again! Just. Forget what being in a nice warm house felt like, forget about soft sheets and cozy blankets, forget about fresh food and early morning dog cuddles and late night movie marathons and hugs and being tucked into bed and Maddie’s laughter and Tom’s bad puns and - and -

He only realizes he’s crying when he sees the tears drip down into the dirt.

“I don’t wanna be alone,” he mumbles to himself, wiping at his eyes frantically. But he has to be, is the thing. He doesn’t even know where he is anymore, so going home isn’t really an option. 

He ends up curling up under a tree, wishing he’d taken a blanket with him. When he falls asleep, he doesn’t dream. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry i did not mean for this fic to get sad so fast. next chapter will be some comfort and then i'll do some fluff probably?? feel free to yell at me for this chapter in the comments though. i said i'm sorry but i'm not actually that sorry.
> 
> also fun fact most of this fic has been written while watching the snapcube fandubs on repeat.
> 
> thank u all for the support!! comments make my day and i try to reply to most of them!! i love everyone who reads this fic, thank u for being here and validating my bizarre life choices.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom goes looking.

“ _Shit,_ ” Tom mutters, the first time he’s sworn in nearly a month. 

How had he not realized something was wrong? Sonic had been acting suspicious for a while, long enough for Tom to pick up on. And he’d caught the way the kid deflected questions. He could list off the things he actually knew about him and his life, and most had been stuff from the roadtrip. 

\- he’s a hedgehog

\- he’s from another planet

\- he had to leave for some reason

\- he’s been on earth (and Green Hills, specifically) for about ten years

\- he lived in a cave and had presumably stolen most of what he needed

And everything past that was a mystery. Why he’d left his home planet, what had happened to his parents (did he even have parents??) how he got his powers, what his powers actually entailed ....The kid’s basically a bundle of mysteries. 

And that was fine. There was no rush in trying to learn everything. All that mattered was that Sonic was safe and happy and had a home. And yeah, Tom hoped he’d open up eventually, but all the parenting books said to be patient and that was fine by him. 

But...he’s reconsidering that, now, especially after Sonic just apparently decided he had to leave with no indication of when or _if_ he’d be returning. Maybe he should have pushed. Maybe he should have made Sonic stop deflecting, made him sit down and have a conversation, explain that this was Sonic’s _home_ and that if something was upsetting him he could talk about it. Maybe in that case Tom wouldn’t be stuck wandering through the forest at 3 am in his pyjamas. 

Unfortunately, that’s what he’s doing. 

Maddie had managed to stop him from running after Sonic immediately, though she’d had to physically throw shoes and a jacket at him and make him wait long enough for her to grab a flashlight. 

_“Look for footsteps,” Maddie said, as she dug through the closet. “He just took off, right? He’s probably not thinking about where he’s going.” Tom’s expression must have changed or something, because she followed it up quickly. “He knows these woods well. I’m sure he’s safe, he’s just…” she sighed. “I’m gonna stay here, in case he comes back.”_

_“I don’t think he’s gonna,” Tom said, rubbing his face with the palm of his hand._

_“It’ll be okay.” Maddie handed him a sweater and a flashlight. “Put your shoes on.”_

_“Right,” Tom said. “Right. Okay.”_

_“You’ll find him.” Maddie kissed his cheek. “It’s gonna be fine. We got through the whole evil government scientist thing, didn’t we?”_

Yeah, the evil government scientist might have been easier. At least then Tom kinda knew what he was doing. Protect the kid, get him to San Francisco, don’t get arrested. Sure, things didn’t work out like he planned - he certainly did not intend on getting as attached as he did - but at least there _was_ a plan.

Right now, he just feels like an idiot wandering through a forest, which is exactly what he is. There are some footsteps, but even with the flashlight they’re hard to see, and Tom’s not even certain they’re Sonic’s. 

“Sonic?” he yells out. No response. He wasn’t really expecting one.

He keeps going.

\--

Sonic wakes up with the sun, watching the first rays of light poke between the trees. He’d originally found the cave soon after ending up on earth, so it’s been a while since he’s actually had to sleep outside, and overall? Not fun. 0/10. Do not recommend. 

Not that he really has a choice. He’ll have to find a new cave, or something like it. Could he sleep in a tree? That might be something to try. 

(He thinks of his bed at home, warm and soft and cozy and not full of splinters, and shakes his head.)

It’s a nice day, at least. Warm, but not too hot. The sunrise is beautiful from where he’s standing. 

(Maddie would love it.)

He shakes his head again. Not going down that road! Just gonna focus on….on the trees. And the grass. And the flowers. Nature’s nice! He’s fine, out here all alone. Sure, he’s lost, and covered in dirt, and kinda hungry, but...it’s pretty, at least? It’s fine. He’s fine.

He gets up, dusts himself off, and starts walking.

\--

He gives up when he passes by the tree he slept against for the third time.

“I’m lost,” he mutters, leaning his head against the bark. His knowledge of the forest was pretty limited, for how long he’s been there. But he’d never really ventured too far - staying by the town always seemed a better option. Easier to find food, easier to keep from getting bored. Out in the middle of nowhere, there’s only berries to eat and squirrels for company, and both are pretty terrible options.

He turns around, so his quills are against the tree, and slides down, collapsing into a heap at the base of the tree. He’s tired, and hungry, and _lonely_. He’d forgotten how bad being alone was, cause right now there’s nothing more he wants than to squish himself between Tom and Maddie, put on a movie, and pet Ozzie. 

But then he remembers last night - Tom, staring at him, confused and afraid, hand singed by powers Sonic doesn’t know how to control. He thinks about Longclaw, shot because of him, probably _dead_ because of him. He thinks about power outages, and evil scientists, and all the many ways he could hurt people without even trying.

It’s not worth it.

( _He’s_ not worth it.)

And yet in the back of his head he can still hear Tom, trying to calm him down, saying his name…

Wait.

Hang on.

Sonic stands up, and immediately crashes into Tom.

“ _Sonic!_ ”

He could run. Couldn’t he? Run like he did last night, run like he’s been doing for his entire life. Run away, again, and give up on the idea of ever getting to be happy.

_Run,_ he thinks, but his legs don’t move.

“Sonic,” Tom says again, kneeling down. He practically falls over, actually. He looks about the same way Sonic feels - covered in dirt, exhausted, sleep deprived - but there’s a relief in his eyes. “Are you okay?”

Yes. No. Maybe? No. Does he know what being okay is? Has he _ever_ been okay? Is that even a real thing? Is -

“Alright, bad question. Just - talk to me, please?”

“Hi,” Sonic says.

Tom tips forward, sitting on his legs. “Good enough.” He takes a deep breath, rubbing his face with his hand. “Please don’t run again?”

Sonic hunches in on himself, shoulders raising. He nods.

“Okay. Okay,” he says again, still rubbing at his face. “Are you hurt? I should’ve brought some water or something,” he says, sighing. Sonic just stares at him, silent, too many words running through his head to actually say any of them. “Sonic? It’s okay, I’m not mad, I just wanna know what’s going on. I just need you to talk to me.”

The words tumble out. “You came for me,” he says, and then starts crying.

“Hey,” Tom says, scooting forward. “Hey, here, c’mon,” and he keeps scooting forward until suddenly his hand is on Sonic’s head and Sonic’s face is buried into his shirt, and it’s definitely covered in dirt but it feels like _home_. “It’s okay,” he says, along with a bunch of other stuff. Sonic can’t really make out the tone, but he gets the meaning: he’s safe.

“I’m sorry,” he says, except it comes out more like _m surree_. He thinks Tom might be petting him.

He doesn’t move until he absolutely has to, and even then he’s still nestled close. Tom’s definitely petting him, running his hand through his quills repeatedly.

“I’m sorry,” he says again, clearer this time.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Tom says, and then, “ _are you_ okay?”

Sonic’s not sure he has an answer to that. He shrugs.

“Fair enough,” Tom says. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

_I’m scared of hurting everyone I care about_ , he thinks, and _I’m not sure I actually count as a person,_ and _I don’t even understand why you wanna help so much_ , but out loud he just repeats himself. “You came for me.”

“Of course. Maddie had to stop me from running outside with no shoes.”

“ _Why_ ? I - I hurt you, I ran off, you barely even know me! I almost got you killed like, five times after knowing you for a _day!_ And then you let me move in with you, even though I - I’m -” 

“You are _not_ finishing that sentence,” Tom says, cutting him off. But he doesn’t get it.

“Longclaw said to never stop running. What if - what if it wasn’t to protect _me?_ I don’t want anyone else getting hurt, but all this bad stuff keeps happening and the one thing that’s always there is _me_. So...so if I’m alone, then everyone else will be safe.” He nods his head once, decisively, daring Tom to argue with his logic. Tom...actually doesn’t seem to have an argument. He’s just staring at Sonic. “I’ll grab my stuff, first, but -”

“No,” Tom says, surprising Sonic. “No, absolutely not, you are not just _leaving._ I’m not letting you just walk out because you think it’ll protect me. That’s not how this works.” Tom makes a sound - laughter, almost, except without the actual finding-something-funny part. “That’s _my job._ Literally, my job is to protect people, and even if it wasn’t - that’s a parents job. Not a kid’s.”

“I’m not a kid,” Sonic protests.

“Okay, you’re whatever the word for a baby hedgehog is. Protecting is still my job.”

“Then what’s my job?”

“Your job is _very_ important. Your job is to be happy, and learn about the world, and grow up.”

“But...I managed it before. I was fine on my own! I mean, up until the power outage, but I was doing fine before then! I can do it again, I can -"

“I’m not leaving you alone,” Tom says firmly. "Whatever happens, we'll handle it. You don't need to be on your own before. I'm not letting you get hurt again."

Sonic’s crying again. Or maybe he never actually stopped? Either way, his face is getting very damp, very quickly. Tom’s petting him again, slowly, very carefully. 

“What if I mess up again?” Sonic asks, wiping at his face. 

“We’ll handle it. No matter what it is, I promise, I’m not gonna leave you alone or kick you out or anything. Just...talk to me, okay? And Maddie. We wanna help you.”

“Okay.” This time, when he wipes his face, it actually stays sorta dry. “Can...can we go home?”

“Of course,” Tom says, standing up and brushing himself off. “Want me to carry you?”

That had never even occurred to Sonic as an option. He nods his head. It takes a moment for them to figure out the logistics of it, but pretty soon he’s nestled up comfortably and Tom has figured out the right angles to avoid quills, and they’re on their way. 

Sonic falls asleep about two steps in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uh. i accidentally have a plot for the next few chapters. but for now! please enjoy the comfort to last chapter's hurt! also thank you to everyone for the really sweet comments!!! i love u all.
> 
> also do y'all like the whole list thing i keep starting chapters with?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> listen these summaries are gonna be bad and you're all gonna have to accept that. tom and sonic go home

It’s a much nicer walk to get home than it was to find Sonic. The kid’s fast asleep in Tom’s arms, mumbling in his sleep periodically. Tom’s glad for the reminder that he’s there, that he’s safe. 

Maddie’s waiting on the porch when Tom arrives, pacing back and forth. Even from a distance he can see her shoulders slump in relief, and he practically runs the last few feet, careful not to disturb the hedgehog in his arms.

“He’s okay?” Maddie asks.

“Physically, yeah. Emotionally...mostly? We’re gonna need to talk to him.”

Maddie nods. “Well, that can wait ‘til everyone gets some sleep.”

Tom doesn’t bother bringing Sonic up to the attic, not when the master bedroom is right there and perfectly fine. And...well, honestly, he doesn’t really wanna let the kid -  _ his  _ kid - out of his sight yet.

The bed is big enough for three, and Sonic seems content to just curl in a ball in the middle of the bed, anyway. Maddie grabs an extra blanket from the closet and gently lays it over him, smiling as he pulls it tighter in his sleep.

Tom takes a moment to change - he’d like a full shower, honestly, but he’s too exhausted for that. At the very least he can minimize how much dirt he tracks into the bed.

“We’re gonna need to do laundry,” he says as he pulls the blanket over him.

“That’s a problem for later,” Maddie says. “How are you doing?”

Good question. “Tired, mostly.”

“I can call the station, let them know you can’t come in.”

Normally, he hates missing work. He gets a little restless on days off, bored without something to do. But he has a feeling the day’s gonna be busy regardless. And he  _ really  _ doesn’t wanna leave Sonic alone right now. 

“I think that’s a good idea. What about you?”

“They’ll survive without me for a day. Family’s more important.” She reaches over, squeezing his shoulder. Tom lets out a slow exhale, pushing the blanket aside to make sure Sonic’s asleep.

“I’m worried about him,” he says, once he’s certain. “I went to check on him and he just - he flipped out. Accidentally zapped my hand and he just took off. I...I think we might be a little out of our depth, here.” 

Tom’s good at fixing things. There’s a reason people come to him for repairs. He’s handy with a hammer, and more than that, he’s a pretty good listener. Just a couple days ago, he’d gotten a call about a teenager with a broken car. They’d only needed a tire change, but Tom had ended up sticking around for an extra hour, listening to the kid talk about how his boyfriend dumped him and his life was over. By the time Tom had left, the kid seemed at least a little happier, so Tom figured he had to be doing  _ something _ right.

But Tom’s pretty sure being completely alone for...however long Sonic has been on Earth isn’t something that can be fixed in a single conversation.

“Stop otherthinking,” Maddie says, gently smacking his arm. “We just need to take the first step. Make sure he knows we  _ want _ him to talk to us, that it’s an option. It’ll be okay.”

“Yeah,” Tom says, “you’re right.”

“I always am.” Maddie leans over to kiss him. “Get some sleep.”

Tom doesn’t need to be told twice.

—

It’s mid afternoon by the time everyone’s awake. Sonic is the last one up, surprisingly enough, but he did have a pretty rough night, so it’s understandable. 

Still. Tom doesn’t feel comfortable getting out of bed until the kid’s awake, blinking up at him blearily, face scrunched up. 

“Still here,” Sonic mumbles, leaning his face into Tom’s arm. 

“Still here,” Tom repeats. 

Maddie stretches loudly, nearly smacking Tom in the face. “C’mon! Time to get up!” Sonic whines, trying to burrow back under the covers, until Maddie adds, “I’ll let you have some ice cream with your breakfast.”

“And there he goes.” Tom figures he ought to drag himself out of bed too, trailing just behind Maddie as she heads into the kitchen. Sonic is already zipping around the kitchen, apparently deciding to add ice cream to his cereal. Weird, but honestly not the weirdest thing Tom’s seen him eat.

Breakfast is quiet. Maddie makes eggs (plain for herself, cheese for Tom, and a little hot sauce for Sonic) while Tom throws out a few bad puns just to try and get a laugh. Sonic doesn’t quite seem in the mood, though, so he gives up pretty fast. 

Tom’s original plan had been to wait, let the kid settle a little before springing another emotional conversation on him. But with the way Sonic is acting, Tom’s not sure he  _ can _ wait.

\---

Tom drops his fork with a clang, starling Sonic. 

“So,” Tom says. “I wanna start off by saying you’re  _ not _ in trouble. 

Sonic’s seen enough movies to know where this is going.  _ You’re not in trouble _ is always followed by a  _ yet _ .

“But,” Tom continues. “I think we need to talk about what happened last night.” 

“It won’t happen again,” he says quickly, and he’s about to add more but Tom is shaking his head.

“That’s not what I mean. We’re not mad, kiddo. We’re just worried.”

“You’ve been through a lot, the last few weeks.” Maddie lays her hand on the table, reaching towards Sonic. “We just wanna make sure you’re okay.”

“What if -“ Sonic stares at Maddie’s hand. Swallows, hard. Thinks about last night, Tom reaching out only to recoil with burnt fingers. “What if I’m not?”

“Then we can work together until you are,” Maddie says. She doesn’t recoil - not yet, at least. But Maddie wasn’t there last night, and Sonic doesn’t know if Tom even told her. 

“You’re not alone,” Tom says, and for a second Sonic can’t breathe. His breath catches in his throat, choking him.

“I know,” he manages, “I  _ know _ , but I - I’m - I keep having nightmares, and I keep thinking, maybe it’d be better if I was? Because when I was alone, people were safe. And I know the people from the government are still looking for me, and what if they find me? You’ll get in trouble too! Or what if I hurt someone? I don’t know how to control my powers, I keep waking up all static-y and I don’t know how to make it stop - and I hurt Tom! And in my dream I -” he thinks back to his dream, seeing every person he cared about motionless, Robotnik’s  _ excitement _ . “I hurt  _ everyone _ and what if it comes true?”

_ Stop talking! _ he thinks, but the words spill out anyways. “I don’t think I know how to not be alone,” he says, and then covers his mouth with his hands. 

“Sonic,” Maddie starts.

“I mean, uh - I’m fine! It’s fine, I just - adjustment period! That’s the thing, right? I’m just - settling in. It’s fine! You don’t need to worry, I’m just - I need to go upstairs -”

“ _ Sonic _ ,” Maddie says again, firmer this time. “Sweetie, please don’t run off.”

He pulls his legs up. He’s worried if they touch the floor he might not be able to stop himself.

“Thank you,” Maddie says. Sonic tilts his head.

“For what?”

“For sharing,” she says. “Letting us know what’s going on means we can actually help.”

“And we  _ want _ to help,” Tom adds. “You’re part of the family, and that’s what family  _ is. _ ”

Sonic taps out a nervous rhythm on his knee, scared of what he’ll say if he opens his mouth again. Tom and Maddie exchange a few Looks, apparently having an entire silent conversation, before Maddie speaks up again.

“You mentioned you’ve been having nightmares,” she says. “Do you think you could talk more about that?”

A shudder runs through him. But if Maddie thinks it might help….well. He can at least try.

“Last night I had a dream that I was fighting Robotnik again and I tried using the lightning thing but it - backfired? And instead of hurting him, it hurt….everyone else. And everyone was just lying there, and no one was moving, and then I woke up and there was all this static and I didn’t know what to do so I just...ran. That’s always been the solution! But...I guess not this time?”

“I used to have nightmares a lot as a kid,” Tom says. “And whenever I did, I’d go to my mom, and wake her up, and I’d tell her about my dream and we’d talk about how it wasn’t real, and she’d let me sleep in her bed if I needed. Next time, when you have a nightmare, do you think you could try that?”

“I don’t wanna bother you,” Sonic mumbles, fidgeting with his hands.

“It’s not bothering us. If something’s upsetting you, we wanna know, so we can help,” Tom says. 

“Do you really think it’ll help?”

“Well, it helped me. I can’t make any promises, but do you think you could try?”

“I can try,” he says. 

“And maybe, if you’d be okay with it, you could tell us more about stuff before you moved in with us?” Tom asks. “No pressure, but it can be good to get stuff off your chest.” 

Sonic looks down at himself. “Like my fur?”

Maddie laughs. “It’s a metaphor. It means to get your feelings and thoughts out, basically.”

“Oh. Uh….maybe? What do you wanna know?”

Tom and Maddie exchange another Look. 

“It’s not about what we wanna know,” Maddie says. “It’s about helping you feel better. Talking about traumatic things that happened can help, but only if you’re okay with talking about it.”

“We don’t wanna push you,” Tom adds. 

There’s  _ so much _ he could share. Tom and Maddie were there for the whole Robotnik stuff, but they barely know anything about Before. And he doesn’t really want to change that. He doesn’t want to talk about how it’s his fault he’s on Earth in the first place, or how he’s been basically stalking everyone for years, or how he’s been alone for so long he barely knows how to exist around other people. 

“Can’t we just….erase all that stuff? Pretend it never happened?”

“I wish, kiddo. But that’s not how it works. If you don’t talk about stuff, it just sits in your head and gets worse.”

Sonic huffs, looking away from Tom and Maddie. “...maybe later,” he says, quietly. 

“You don’t have to do it today,” Maddie says. “Just let us know when you’re ready.”

He nods. “Could we maybe….do something else, now?”

Tom nods. “You wanna watch a movie? Your choice.”

Sonic grins, already knowing what he wants to watch.

Later, he’ll have to talk to them. And maybe it actually will help - he certainly hopes it will. But right now...Right now, just the knowledge that he has a family and that they won’t give up on him is help enough. Being sandwiched in between Tom and Maddie - in between his  _ parents _ \- it occurs to him that maybe, just maybe, he’ll actually be okay after all.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me watching steven universe future: oh this is exactly like my sonic fic
> 
> so i guess this is like the end of a plot arc of sorts??? i'm thinking i'm gonna maybe take prompts for a bit and do some lighter stuff before we get back into the emotional stuff. so if you have any scenarios you'd like to see, let me know! i can't promise i'll get to all of them but i can at least draw inspiration from them! you can leave comments here or message me on tumblr (or even instagram if you really want) @ lakesandquarries! thanks in advance, and i hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> also......if i made a discord server for this fic would anyone join


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maddie gets a call from the last person she expected to.

In a turn of events that surprises everyone, Rachel actually likes Sonic. 

Maddie doesn’t call her until after Sonic is moved in, and technically doesn’t call at all. It’s  _ Rachel _ that contacts her first, calling her out of the blue a month after their last interaction, two days after Sonic’s impromptu forest adventure. Maddie’s so shocked by the sight of her sister's name that she answers. 

“Rachel?” she asks. 

Her disbelief must show through her voice because Rachel  _ hmphs  _ and says, “I’m glad to hear from you too.”

“I am! Glad, I mean. I just wasn’t expecting you to ever wanna talk to me again.”

Maddie can hear Rachel roll her eyes. “Honey, it’s gonna take more than  _ that _ to get rid of me.”

“I’m sorry for tying you to a chair. And borrowing your car.”

“See, that’s part of why I called you. It came back?”

“Huh,” Maddie says, trying to feign surprise. Tom had mentioned getting Rachel’s car back to her, and Maddie had seen the boys struggling with a couple rings just a few days prior. Evidently it had worked. “Well, that’s good, right?”

“Maddie,” Rachel says sternly. 

“There is an explanation,” Maddie admits. “But I can’t tell you over the phone.”

“Is this about that -“

“Sh! I’ll explain later, I promise.”

“Oh, you better,” Rachel says. 

“I will, I promise. But I gotta go, we’re still doing some house renovations.”

“ _ Renovations? _ Maddie, what happened to -“

Maddie hangs up mid word and collapses against the sofa. 

“Was that Rachel?” Tom asks from out of nowhere. Maddie sits up straight. She hadn’t heard him come in.

Nodding, she sighs. “She’s freaked out about the car.”

“Did it not get back?”

“No, it did, which is why she freaked out.”

“Oh,” Tom says, rubbing the back of his neck. “Right.”

At least he has the decency to look ashamed. Maddie sighs, leaning her head back against the couch. “How am I supposed to explain any of this to her? She reacted badly enough to me getting married, I can’t imagine how she’ll respond to us adopting an alien.”

Tom sits down on the couch, leaving just enough space for Maddie to decide if she wants to lean against him. She does. 

“We’ll figure it out, like we always do,” Tom says, taking her hand in his. “Maybe Sonic will let us borrow a couple rings, and we could go and explore things in person?”

“Not a bad idea,” Maddie admits. “But if she says anything to hurt him…”

“If anything bad happens, we’ll leave immediately.” Tom leans down, kissing her on the cheek. “Hey. It’s gonna be okay.”

“I know. I just don’t want him getting hurt. He’s already been through enough.”

“When we get there, maybe you can talk to Rachel first and then we can let her actually meet him? I mean, she already got through the ‘scream and pass out’ phase, but we don’t know what her reaction to him staying will be.”

“Interesting how I’m apparently the only person who managed to actually stay calm meeting him. No screaming, no passing out, no tranquilizers…”

“I’m never gonna live that down, am I?”

“Absolutely not.”

Tom rolls his eyes. “Jojo didn’t freak out either,” he reminds her. “They seemed to get along pretty well, from what I saw. More reason to visit, maybe?”

Maddie nods. She kept catching Sonic marveling at his shoes, and it wasn’t a stretch to think he’d like to see the girl who gave them to him again. 

That had been the first gift he’d ever received, another little thing he’d tossed out casually that made Maddie’s heart ache to think about.

She leans her head against Tom’s shoulder. “We’ll ask him what he thinks first -“

“Ask me what?”

She looks up to see Sonic’s face barely a foot from her own, starling her enough that she flinches, accidentally smacking her head into Tom’s face. 

“ _ Ow, _ ” Tom says, at the same time Sonic stutters out a quick “Sorry!” Maddie snorts, leaning forward to ruffle his quills before he can skitter away. 

“Maybe a little warning next time,” she suggests, gently pulling him closer. He gives in quick enough, trying to mirror her and Tom and leaning his head against her shoulder. “We were thinking about going to see Rachel.”

“Your sister? The one you tied up?” His ears flatten. 

“She called me asking about the car. It got back safe, by the way,” she adds, and his ears perk back up. “I wanted to tell her about you in person, just so everyone’s on the same page.”

His feet tap against the couch. “Is Jojo gonna be there?”

“She should be.” Sonic’s face breaks into a grin. 

“Let’s go right now!” He launches himself off the couch, poised to run to San Francisco all alone any second. 

“Slow down,” Tom says. Sonic pouts. “You’re not going there on your own. Don’t want any fish on your head, right?” Sonic is still pouting, but he sits back down. “We wanted to know if it’d be okay to use a couple rings?”

Sonic nods, feet tapping again. “Can we go today?”

“Maybe not today, kiddo. How’s tomorrow sound?”

At least he’s cute when he’s pouting. Maddie reaches over and pats his head, scratching the base of his ear. “This way we can plan things out. Maybe grab some gifts?”

That seems to cheer him up. There’s a rush of wind and Sonic’s gone, rushing up the stairs too fast for Maddie to see. A millisecond later and he’s back, carrying a giant cowboy hat she remembers taking from his cave. 

“You wanna give that to Jojo?” Maddie asks. Sonic nods, fast enough that it blurs. “We’ll make sure to bring it with us, then. Wanna put it by the door in the meantime?” 

Another rush of air, presumably Sonic doing exactly that, and then he’s back on the couch. 

“Thank you,” Maddie says. Sonic always beams when she says that, delighted by the slightest praise. She turns to Tom. “Should we tell Rachel we’re coming?”

“She’ll think we’re crazy, but yeah.”

Maddie shoots off a quick text -  _ We’re gonna come over tomorrow, and I’ll explain everything  _ \- and then turns off her phone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love rachel. that is all.
> 
> okay actually thats not all! i have a discord server now! https://discord.gg/5sPw99c it's mostly just a place to chill and chat, plus i'll be sharing previews of upcoming chapters and deleted scenes! thank you for all the love, i know this chapter isn't as exciting as previous ones but i hope u all enjoy it anyway!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maddie and Rachel have A Talk. Tom and Sonic are there too.

Rachel throws the door open the instant Maddie touches her knuckles to it, a scowl on her face.

“Hi,” Tom says, waving.

“You better have a good explanation,” Rachel says, ushering them in. “I mean, really! A cryptic text like that, and then  _ nothing _ , and then you just show up at my door? You better not be planning to stay, I don’t even know how you got here so fast.”

“The suitcase isn’t for us,” Maddie says, attempting to placate her sister. “How about we sit down?”

“What’s the suitcase for?”

Maddie glances back at Tom. He shrugs at her.

“Before I tell you anything, you have to promise not to freak out,” Maddie says.

“Excuse me?”

“Pinky promise,” Tom intejects.

Rachel huffs. “ _ Fine. _ ” She holds out her pinky. “I won’t freak out.”

“Or call the police. Or tell  _ anyone _ .”

Still holding out her pinky, Rachel rolls her eyes. “It’s about that alien, isn’t it?”

Maddie hooks her pinky with Rachel’s. “His name,” she says, shaking it, “is Sonic.”

“Oh,  _ hell _ no,” Rachel says.

“I’m gonna go somewhere else,” Tom announces, grabbing the suitcase and quickly retreating to the kitchen.

“Maddie,” Rachel says. “What is  _ going on _ ?”

“You promised not to freak out,” Maddie reminds her. 

“ _ Maddie _ ,” Rachel repeats.

In the same sharp tone of voice Maddie replies, “ _ Rachel. _ ”

“Did you bring an alien into my house?”

“His name is Sonic,” Maddie repeats.

“Oh, my god.”

“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not that,” Maddie says quickly, trying to stop the rant she can feel is coming.

“Okay, so you aren’t harboring some kind of dangerous alien fugitive? And bringing it to my  _ house _ ? This was bad enough when it was just Tom being an idiot, but now you’re in on it too! The FBI showed up at my front door!”

“Please tell me you didn’t say anything.”

“I told them that your husband is an idiot,” Rachel says, folding her arms.

“What else? Did you tell them about Sonic?”

Rachel rolls her eyes. “I’m not stupid. Just because I think you’re making a horrible decision doesn’t mean I’m gonna tell the FBI about it.”

Maddie deflates, letting out a relieved sigh.

“Starting to wonder if I should’ve,” Rachel mutters.

“Don’t you  _ dare. _ ”

“Relax, I’m not gonna. I promised, didn’t I? But  _ you _ need to explain what’s going on. Did you, or did you not bring some kind of alien fugitive to my house?”

“He’s a  _ kid _ , Rachel. He’s barely older than Jojo. Yes, he is some kind of alien fugitive, and also, he’s maybe 13 years old and he lived in a cave. Maybe it was a reckless idea, but you can’t convince me it was a bad one.”

Rachel’s gaze darts to the kitchen doors. “Maddie, this is  _ crazy. _ ”

“Maybe,” she admits. “But I had to do something.”

“The worst part of this is I can’t even say I’m that surprised,” Rachel says, leaning against the couch cushions. “Of course you end up adopting the fugitive alien. Sure. Might as well.” She rubs her forehead, running her hands down her face. “I thought you and Tom wanted to wait before having kids?”

“That was the original plan, yeah. But...things change. Plans change.”

“People, apparently, do not.” Rachel takes a breath, sitting up on the couch. “I still think this is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” she says, “but alright. Let’s go meet my new nephew.”

\--

“Can I come out?” Sonic asks, as soon as he feels the suitcase stop moving. 

“Yeah,” Tom says. The suitcase unzips and Sonic stumbles out, stretching after being stuck in there for the whole journey.

“That wasn’t as bad as the duffel bag, but this was  _ not _ what I thought the trip was gonna be like,” he complains.

“I know, kiddo. We just didn’t want Rachel freaking out.”

Sonic sighs dramatically, pouting. “I don’t get why people keep freaking out!”

“You can be a little startling, buddy.”

Sonic doesn’t look at him, folding his arms and staring at the floor.

“Hey, it’s just for a little bit. Maddie’s catching Rachel up, and then you’re not gonna need to keep hiding.”

Well, that part sounds nice. It’s not that Sonic isn’t grateful for the opportunities he has, it’s just...well, he’d thought maybe he wouldn’t have to hide at all anymore. Not a realistic thought, but still. He’d gotten so caught up in the excitement of being  _ known _ , he forgot that it was really only a small group of people who actually knew.

It’s better than before, he reminds himself. And the idea of the whole world knowing about him….he’s not sure he’d be able to handle it. It’s for the best, to still be partially hidden. And he’s safe, and technically he’s still following Longclaw’s instructions, sorta, so it’s fine. It’s good, even! There’s nothing for him to be upset about.

“Sonic?” Tom says, kneeling down and putting a hand on his shoulder. “You good?”

“Huh?”

“You’re mumbling to yourself again, and you’re gonna wear a path in the kitchen floor at the rate you’re going.”

“Oh. I’m fine. Just….thinking. But I’m fine! Promise.”

_ Stupid _ , he thinks.  _ Could you  _ be _ anymore obvious? _

“I know it’s rough,” Tom says, patting his shoulder. “But hey, at least the suitcase smelled better, right?”

Sonic scrunches up his face. “ _ Barely. _ ” It’s obvious what Tom is doing, but he doesn’t mind the change in topic. 

“You guys in here?” He hears someone tap on the kitchen door - Maddie, probably, considering he also heard her talking. 

“No,” Tom calls back, winking at Sonic.

Maddie opens the door anyway. “Rachel is taking things surprisingly well. She wants a proper introduction. Sonic, does that sound good to you?”

He bounces on his heels, rushing past Maddie over to the living room. There’s a woman getting up from the couch, who he assumes is Rachel. She looks a little like Maddie, if he squints. Her smile is kinda similar, warm and friendly.

“Hi there,” Rachel says. “You’re Sonic?”

“Yes,” he says, and it comes out embarrassingly squeaky. He clears his throat. “Yes! That's me. I’m Sonic. Hi. You’re Rachel?”

She nods and smiles at him, reaching out her hand. He almost high fives her before realizing she’s probably looking for a handshake.

“Well aren’t you just adorable,” Rachel says, leaning over to pat his head. “Goodness, you’re tiny.”

“Be nice,” Maddie says, but she’s smiling too. “If I remember, you were pretty short for a  _ very _ long time.”

“You were just way too tall,” Rachel says, turning her attention from Sonic back to Maddie. Sonic shifts his weight back and forth, uncertain if he should interrupt, when she says something about how “At least he’s polite,” but Rachel turns back to him quick. “It’s good to meet you. You let me know if you need anything, alright honey?”

“I think I’m fine,” he says, tilting his head.

“Not right now. I mean, yes right now - you want something to eat? I hope these two are feeding you well, I swear Maddie  _ never _ eats enough and we all know about Tom’s diet -”

“I take offense to that!” Tom says, poking his head out of the kitchen.

Sonic laughs. “I used to call him Donut Lord before I knew his name.”

“You see! Setting a  _ terrible _ example.” Rachel sits back down on the couch, patting the seat next to her. He takes a moment to sit down, trying to make sure his quills won’t accidentally stab the cushions, and once he’s settled Rachel leans over and pats him on the head again. 

“So you just let me know if you ever need anything,” she repeats, waving Maddie over. She sits down on the other side of Sonic and he leans his head against her arm. “Well, isn’t that just adorable.”

“You’re a lot less scary than I thought you’d be,” Sonic blurts out. Maddie bursts into laughter.

“Maddie, what have you been telling him?”

“Nothing that isn’t true.”

This sparks a whole conversation that Sonic can barely follow, so he shoots a glance at Tom, who’s finally decided to come join them in the living room. He hasn’t joined them on the couch, choosing to sit on a chair across from them, and he doesn’t actually offer any help in figuring out what’s going on, instead just shrugging.

“So, Sonic,” Rachel says, apparently done with whatever argument she was having with Maddie, “how old are you?”

“Uh,” Sonic says, trying to do the math in his head and failing. “Thirteen? I think?”

“Little older than Jojo,” Rachel notes.

“Where is Jojo? Maddie made it sound like she was gonna be here.”

“She’s at school. Should be home pretty soon, school lets out in about twenty minutes and she usually walks home.”

Sonic turns to Maddie, about to ask how late they can stay, but Maddie’s already asking - “Can we stay until she gets back? Sonic was very excited about getting to see her.”

“I was hoping you’d ask,” Rachel says.

\--

Rachel intercepts Jojo at the door, Sonic hiding behind her as she explains there’s a special guest. They reunite like best friends, Sonic nearly knocking Jojo over in his excitement.

“You still have the shoes!” Jojo points out. 

“Of course!” he responds, shuffling his feet in something resembling a dance. “And! I have something to give you this time!” He darts back to the kitchen, returning with the massive cowboy hat and gently placing it on Jojo’s head. She giggles, reaching up to touch it.

“This is just  _ precious _ ,” Rachel whispers to Maddie.

“We’re gonna have to visit more often, huh?”

“Oh, definitely. But -”

“I’m still bringing Tom.”

Rachel rolls her eyes. Maddie pays her no mind, focused more on the scene in front of her, Sonic excitedly explaining that he lives with them now and no Ozzie isn’t here but next time he’ll bring him, maybe, if there is a next time? Tom doesn’t hesitate to tell him yes, of course, and sure, they’ll bring Ozzie.

It’s domestic in a way Maddie never expected her life to be, and she can’t think of a single thing to complain about.

“Mama, can I show Sonic my room?” Jojo asks, grabbing Rachel’s arm.

“You got any homework?”

“Just a little math.”

“Okay well, he can stay for a little while longer. An hour. But! Afterwards, homework, and no complaining, okay?”

Jojo nods frantically, massive cowboy hat trying to slide off her head, before she grabs Sonic’s hand and darts off.

“I’ll admit, he’s cute,” Rachel says, once the kids are gone. “Way more energy than I could handle. But cute.”

“He’s a handful,” Maddie admits. “I’m glad to see him and Jojo get along.”

“She would  _ not _ shut up about him,” Rachel says, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Kept running around the house the whole night.”

“Yeah? Try dealing with that  _ every _ night.” Maddie moves back towards the living room, where Tom is slowly melting into his chair. Rachel  _ tsks _ when she sees him, shaking her head.

“He’s gonna be a terrible influence,” she says, sitting back down on the couch.

“No worse than you’ll be,” Maddie shoots back, bumping Rachel’s shoulder with her own.

“Let me know if you need anything, alright? Do you think he’d want some of Jojo’s old clothing or anything? He’s small enough to fit.”

“I don’t know if he’d even be willing to wear clothing,” Maddie says, “but he liked the shoes well enough, so it can’t hurt.”

She can hear laughter from down the hall, along with a few more chaotic noises. 

“They better not be breaking anything,” Rachel says, glancing towards Jojo’s room after they hear a particularly loud yell.

“I’m sure they’re not,” Maddie says, immediately followed by a crash. She winces. 

“I’ll go check on them,” Tom offers.

Rachel quickly gets up before Tom can. “Oh, absolutely not.”

Tom turns to Maddie once she’s gone. “That turned out better than I expected.”

“Honestly, yeah. I thought I’d have to do a lot more convincing.”

“She likes the kid way more than me,” he says.

“Can you really blame her?”

Tom pouts, though he drops it quickly.

“Maybe she’ll finally stop trying to get you to leave me,” he muses, shifting sideways on the chair so his head is resting on the arm. 

Tom ends up falling asleep, only to be immediately woken up by Rachel coming back into the living room and yelling at him to get his nasty feet off the couch. 

“Oh, let him sleep,” Maddie says, and Rachel huffs and sighs but soon enough she’s sat back on the couch and Tom is passed out. 

“How are the kids doing?” Maddie asks.

“They’re  _ adorable. _ You guys better come visit again - how did you get here, actually?”

“About that,” Maddie starts, and tries to explain rings as best she can with her own limited knowledge.

“You better use those to visit us,” Rachel says once she’s done.

“Of course.” 

When the hour’s up, Maddie pokes her head into Jojo’s room, and both kids immediately start screaming.

“If we can do this peacefully, we can come back next week,” she says, and they immediately shut up. “Much better. Alright. Sonic, are you ready to go?”

“Mm,” he mumbles.

“We’re gonna come back next week,” she reminds him. “On the weekend, when Jojo won’t have school, and you’ll have the whole day together.” That at least cheers him up.

She wakes up Tom while Sonic gets the portal ready, and the last thing she sees before she steps through is her niece beaming with a massive cowboy hat on her head.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter took FOREVER b/c i struggle to write fluff but it's HERE and i think it's the longest chapter so far?? anyway i LOVE rachel.
> 
> hope y'all enjoy! also, i hope everyone is staying safe! thank you for reading, comments are always appreciated, y'all get the idea.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time Sonic calls Maddie mom, it's an accident.

He forgets, sometimes. 

Or maybe that’s the wrong word. Maybe it’s more like remembering. He looks at Maddie, tucking him into bed with gentle hands, and thinks about a set of wings doing the same. Tom reminds him not to run in the house and he remembers other rules, other homes, other consequences. 

He remembers her. He forgets that they’re different. 

He doesn’t even notice the first time he calls Maddie _mom_ , too busy telling her about how awesome seeing Jojo was and all the fun stuff he wants to do with her. He only realizes when he sees Maddie’s expression change, and he asks “What?” and she just smiles at him and he thinks, _oh_. 

“I didn’t mean to say that!” he says frantically. “I just meant - uh -“

“You can call me mom if you want to,” Maddie says, gentle as ever. Sonic looks at her, or he tries to, because all he can see is arrows and blood and fading gold dust. 

“I mean - well - I guess, if you - If I - Uh -“

“Sonic?”

“I’ll be right back,” he says. “I promise. I’m just gonna -“

“Sonic,” she repeats, less a question this time and more a plea, but by the time her voice hits him he’s already out the door. 

—

The first night had been the hardest. 

He’d been cold, and scared, and hungry, and most of all he’d been _alone._ For the first time he hadn’t wanted to run. Oh, he’d tried, but within two seconds he was back, waiting to see if maybe another ring portal would open. He hadn’t slept that night, terrified of what he might miss. 

Once, before everything, he’d asked her: “Are you my mom?”

And Longclaw had laughed and said, “If you want me to be.”

He’d never called her mom. Out loud, it was always Longclaw. But in his head - in his _heart_ \- she was his parent. She’d been there for his first words, first steps, first run. But when he tried to say it the words lodged in his throat and instead he’d just made jokes, snarked _you’re not my real mom_ and called her old and told her to stop fussing. 

And then he’d seen other kids on the island with flowers. Big bouquets, carefully designed, big enough to send the smaller kids toppling. He couldn’t get her one of those, but there was a field he knew of, full of sunflowers just starting to bloom. 

He’d practiced saying it as he searched for the perfect flower. “This is for you, mom,” he’d whispered to himself, over and over. 

It didn’t matter, in the end. He could have practiced for hours and it wouldn’t have mattered, because nothing could have prepared him for the sheer panic he’d felt in the moment. It wasn’t until later, sitting in the grass and clinging to the remains of the sunflower, that he realized he’d lost his chance. 

—

It’s a little colder out than he expected, but that’s fine. The clearing isn’t far - at least, not for him. He just needs to sit for a little. Maddie and Tom are great and all but, well, sometimes he _wants_ to be alone. 

“Is that bad?” he asks himself, pacing back and forth. 

“Plenty of people like being alone,” he tells himself, leaning against a tree. The other him sighs. 

“Yeah, but I don’t actually like it! Maybe I’m just...broken.” He sits down in the grass, the spot where he’d first landed. 

Not for long, though. He’s back up and pacing again after a few seconds. “That’s not the point. The point is -“

He’s not actually sure there is a point. 

“The point is that this is _stupid_ ,” he huffs, kicking a rock as hard as he can to watch it bounce off a tree. “Maddie said it’s okay if I call her mom! So it’s fine!”

“But what about Longclaw?”

“What _about_ Longclaw? She left! She sent me to a completely different universe, she left me _alone_ -“

“No, that’s not fair, it’s not like she wanted to -“

“But she could have prepared before! If being on that planet was so dangerous, we could’ve left earlier!”

He’s going in circles, mentally and literally. The grass underneath him has been trampled, revealing the dirt, and he’s started wearing a path. 

“Maddie’s not Longclaw,” he reminds himself. “Neither is Tom.”

Except that doesn’t make things any better, does it? He collapses heavily into the center of the circle he’s made. 

“I don’t wanna replace you,” he says, digging his hands into the grass. “But I want them to be my parents too.”

What was it Tom and Maddie had said? They want to help. They want him to talk to them. 

He’s not alone. 

He gets up, and heads home. 

—

“He said he was going to be back,” Maddie reminds him, as Tom gets up again to nervously pace the porch.

“I know,” he says, leaning his head against a post. “That’s why I’m not running after him.” He sighs, rubbing his face with his hand. “Do you think we’re doing this right?”

“We’re doing the best we can,” Maddie says. “That’s all we can do.”

“I just wish he’d talk to us.”

“He told us he was going to come back. That’s progress. Next we can work on telling us when he needs to leave, and _then_ we can quiz him about his childhood. Now c’mon, sit down.”

He does, dropping himself on the bench next to Maddie. She loops her arm around his, leaning her head on his shoulder. “We knew this wasn’t going to be easy. I - hang on I think I see him.”

Tom squints, and sure enough, there’s a little blue figure trudging up to the house. Maddie gently places her hand on his arm, the only thing that stops him from running over immediately. 

“Go easy on him,” she whispers. 

Sonic pauses at the bottom of the stairs, wringing his hands together and periodically glancing at Tom and Maddie only to immediately look away. 

Someone has to break the awkward silence, and it might as well be Tom. 

“Hey kid,” he says. 

“I’m sorry,” Sonic replies, gaze darting all over. “I know I shouldn’t have run off, I just -“

“It's okay if you need time to yourself,” Maddie cuts in. “Just make sure to let us know, okay? I appreciate that you said you’d be back, it’s a good step, but try to let us know when you need space.” She scoots over on the little bench, making room for Sonic between her and Tom. 

“Sorry,” he says again, walking (not running) up the stairs and squeezing into the space. 

“It’s just for future reference,” Tom says. “You feeling any better?”

“Sorta,” Sonic says. Tom is about to say something, but he continues talking. Well. More like monologuing. 

“I kinda wanna call you guys mom and dad but I’m also really scared about it and the last time I wanted to call someone mom she died before I ever got to say it and I feel bad about that and I miss her a lot and also I think I’m kinda mad at her but then I also feel bad about that and I don’t know how to deal with all this?”

There’s a moment of silence, the kind that often follows when Sonic talks. Maddie and Tom aren’t as fast as he is, after all. It takes Tom a second to process Sonic’s words, and then another moment to remember that night in the motel, Sonic talking to himself as he fell asleep. 

“Someone else took care of you before you ended up on earth,” Tom says. “Were they…” He’d wanted to call them mom. “Was _she_ named Longclaw by any chance?”

Sonic stiffens, looking up at Tom with wide eyes. “You mentioned the name that night at the motel,” he says. 

“I did?”

“I didn’t say anything at the time because I didn’t think you meant me to hear. Plus, we were a little busy at that moment. But yeah, you said something along the lines of “maybe Longclaw was wrong”. Was she the one who sent you to earth?”

“It was my fault,” Sonic says, looking down at his feet. “I wasn’t careful enough. I wanted to get her a flower and I guess they must have followed me, because they showed up at our house and attacked. Longclaw….she got hurt. Bad. So she sent me to earth and she told me to stay hidden and never stop running and that’s what I did.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Maddie says immediately. 

Sonic shakes his head. “She always told me to be careful. Stay hidden. But I wasn’t, and...She got hurt. She probably -“ He stops himself, swallowing. “If she was still alive, she would’ve come looking for me.”

“Still not your fault,” Tom says. “The people who attacked her made a choice to do that. You didn’t do anything.”

“How old were you, when this happened?” Maddie aske softly. Sonic holds out his fingers, trying to do the math. 

“Three,” he says, finally. “I think.”

Tom’s glad Sonic is focused on his finger math, because the look Maddie shoots him is one of utter heartbreak. “ _Three??_ ” she mouths, and Tom suddenly remembers how Sonic had said he was thirteen when they were at Rachels. That’s a _decade_ of solitude, of staring in windows and foraging for food and living in a cave. It’s no wonder he acts the way he does. 

Sonic’s back to staring as his feet. They don’t quite reach the ground, and he’s swinging them back and forth - his version of sitting still. He seems to take the silence as a challenge to fill it. “I asked her if I could call her mom one time but every time I was gonna I got scared. And then…”

And then she’d died. 

“I’m sure she knew how you felt,” Maddie says, voice soft. 

“I miss her,” Sonic says, uncharacteristically quiet. “She always knew what to do. She knew _everything_. If I’d just listened to her, maybe -“ he cuts himself off before Tom can, about to reassure him it’s not his fault. “I just wanted to give her a flower.” His voice cracks on the last word, breaking into a sob. Tom moves his arm to offer a hug and Sonic collapses against him.

“Thank you for telling us,” Tom says, trying to be as soft as Maddie is. He glances up at her, a little panicked, but she just smiles fondly at him.

“It happened so long ago though,” Sonic mumbles, leaning back and wiping at his eyes. “Why does it suddenly hurt _more?_ ”

“Sometimes emotions can be delayed. You think you’re fine in the moment, but then later it hits you,” Maddie says. “I’ve seen it happen at work. Someone’s putting a pet to sleep, and as it’s happening they’re fine, and then ten minutes later in the waiting room they start crying. It’s okay.”

“It _sucks_ ,” Sonic says, leaning against Tom again. He lets his arm drop, holding Sonic in a gentle hug. 

“Yeah,” Tom agrees. “But sometimes you just have to let yourself be sad.”

For a brief second, Sonic is silent. Then his voice comes again, very quiet. “Is it okay if I call you guys mom and dad?”

“Of course,” Maddie says, at the same time that Tom says, “Absolutely.”

“But Longclaw’s my mom too,” he adds.

“And that's okay too. Just because you’ve got a new family doesn’t mean you have to forget about your old one. And if you ever want to talk to us about Longclaw, just let us know.”

“She liked sunflowers,” he says, nuzzling into Tom’s arms. “And mice. Also she was really big! And she could fly, and sometimes she’d let me ride on her back, and it was really cool.”

Tom decides he’s not gonna ask for further explanation on the mice. “That does sound pretty cool,” he agrees. 

Sonic nods, the fur on his muzzle tickling Tom’s arm. “I think she would’ve liked you,” he says. And then, quieter, he adds: “Thanks, dad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter took me a While to write b/c i restarted it like 4 times and also had a minor breakdown while writing it. i hope y'all like it. also my discord is still running! i share sneak peaks and behind the scenes stuff and sometimes talk about music for 20 minutes straight. https://discord.gg/t5AmNJj


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Technically, the government is still looking for Sonic.

It’s early morning when Tom hears knocking, quiet but insistent. It takes him a moment to get out of bed, while the knocking grows louder and Maddie aims worried glances at him. 

“I’ll handle it,” he says softly. She lies back down. 

The man at the door doesn’t bother flashing a card at Tom or anything like that. The pristine suit and expressionless face are enough for Tom to know where he’s from. 

“I think you know why we’re here,” he says. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Tom says flatly. The government official standing in Tom’s doorway sighs.

“The creature,” he says, and he’s about to say more, but Tom stops him.

“His name is Sonic.”

“The  _ point is _ , we know he’s here. We appreciate your help dealing with the...previous situation. But we cannot allow you to go on harboring a dangerous fugitive.”

Tom’s eyes narrow, looking at the emotionless man in front of him. “He’s a  _ child, _ ” he says. “And like I said, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I haven’t seen him.”

“Mr. Wachowski, I’m sure you know what the punishment for lying to a government official is. I’m giving you one more chance to confess, and then -”

“Dad?” 

Well.  _ Shit. _

“One second,” Tom says, and he slams the door in the government official’s face.

“Sonic, go back upstairs.”

Sonic does not go back upstairs. He shifts his weight back and forth, hands fidgeting, and says, “They’re here for me.”

Double shit. 

“I’m not gonna let them take you,” Tom says, kneeling down. “We’re gonna figure this out. But I need you to go find Maddie, and tell her what’s happening.”

“You want me to hide.” His ears droop. 

“For now,” Tom says before Sonic can continue, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Like I said. We’re gonna figure this out. I just need you to focus on staying safe for now, okay? I’ll come let you know when it’s okay to come out. Everything’s gonna be fine.”

Sonic takes a deep breath, seemingly preparing himself. “Promise?” he asks. 

Holding out his hand, Tom says, “Pinky promise.” They shake on it. 

“Don’t take too long,” he says, “and tell me as soon as they're gone! I’m gonna tell Maddie and then I’m gonna find the  _ best  _ hiding spot and you’ll  _ never  _ see me again if you don’t. I -“

“Kiddo,” Tom says, fondly exasperated. 

“Okay Dad I love you  _ bye! _ ” There’s a familiar gust of wind, and Sonic is gone.

Once Tom is confident Sonic’s somewhere safe, he reopens the door. “Sorry about that. Where were we?”

The government agent - Paul, Tom decides, since he hasn’t given a name and saying “the government agent” is getting annoying - glares at him. 

“Do you think I’m stupid, Mr. Wachowski?”

“A little, yeah. I mean, you seriously think I have  _ any _ interest in helping you hunt down some kid?” He goes to grab his badge, only to realize he’s still in his pyjamas,  _ and _ he’s wearing the pants with little rubber ducks on them. Whatever. He can still be intimidating. 

“I made a promise to protect this town,” he says, voice low. “That includes scaring off any government wack jobs that think they need to go poking around and bothering people, because of a  _ child. _ ”

“Mr. Wachowski -”

“Get out of my town,” he says, and slams the door again.

\--

Tom watches through the curtains (carefully chosen for their complete coverage) as Paul drives away, then spends an hour combing for any kind of trackers or cameras. Maddie catches him on his third sweep of the living room, which good ol’ Paul hadn’t even  _ seen _ , and he starts to wonder if maybe he’s losing it a little.

“What are you doing?” Maddie asks, appearing in the doorway. 

Tom is currently halfway through checking the couch cushions, as in unzipping them and trying to feel around in the stuffing. “Absolutely nothing.”

“Thomas Michael Wachowski,” she says, in the tone of voice that made Tom first think she might make a good mom. It’s not as fun having it turned on him.

“Someone came,” he says, zipping the cushion back up. “They’re still looking for him, Mads. I can’t -”

“I know,” she says, stepping closer, taking his hands in her own. “We won’t let them find him.”

“They shouldn’t even be looking,” he says bitterly, squeezing her hand. “He’s dealt with enough already.”

“Well, he’s got us now,” Maddie says. She leans in close to kiss his cheek. “He’s got  _ you. _ ”

“Ah yes. Because a guy wearing rubber ducky pjs is  _ super _ badass.”

“Don’t swear,” Maddie chastises. “Can’t have Sonic picking up on bad habits.” She kisses him again, properly this time, before heading up the stairs to go grab Sonic.

Tom gives the couch cushions one last squeeze. Just to be safe.

Sonic does a good job of pretending things are normal, or at the very least he’s doing better than Tom is. Maddie makes breakfast, and they all sit at the table and eat, and if Tom keeps glancing at the curtains every ten seconds, no one says anything. After breakfast, Sonic starts pestering Tom to get out the xbox, which normally takes a bit of convincing. Today Sonic’s barely asked before Tom is grabbing it, loading up some old two player platformer he can get lost in.

He has work tomorrow. He’ll talk to Wade (in code? No, that’ll just confuse Wade. Over text? Worse. Too easy to track. He’ll take him for a hike, and they’ll talk by a waterfall or something, to mask their voices - god, he’s getting paranoid. Is that bad? Probably. Well, he’s in too deep to do anything about it.)

“Dad,” Sonic says, nudging his leg with the tip of his shoe. “I beat the level.”

“What? Oh. Jeez, kid. Nice job.”

“You seem kinda distracted,” Sonic says, nudging him again. “Is this about -”

“We’re gonna handle it,” Tom says quickly. Too quickly, because Sonic frowns.

“It’s bad,” he says. “Isn’t it?”

Well. No point in lying.

“It’s not ideal.”

Sonic wrings his hands together. “I don’t wanna go to the mushroom planet,” he mumbles.

“You’re not gonna. Not even on the table. I -”  _ I would kill the entire US government before letting that happen, _ is what he thinks, but does not say, because  _ wow _ that’s a lot to drop on a thirteen year old. “I promised everything was gonna be fine. Pinky promised. Can’t go back on those.”

Sonic smiles at him, wobbly and fragile. Tom holds his arms out, leaving himself open to be hugged, and Sonic takes the bait, practically tackling Tom.

“I don’t want you to get in trouble,” Sonic says, slightly muffled. His face is buried in Tom’s shoulder, acting more like a koala than a hedgehog. 

_ Little late for that, _ he thinks. “I know you wanna protect me. But you don’t need to. I’m gonna be fine, and so are you, and so is Maddie. We got rid of Robotnik, didn’t we? After that, I think we can handle anything.” Impulsively, he leans down, giving Sonic a kiss on his forehead. It’s a weird feeling, kinda like when Tom licked a battery as a kid, but not in a bad way. The important thing is that Sonic seems happy. He squeaks, hugging Tom tighter, which he hadn’t even thought possible. 

This wasn’t what Tom had expected when he thought about having kids, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we have a PLOT y'all!!!!
> 
> big thank u to invader_sam and tharkflark1 for their help!
> 
> still have a discord server (https://discord.gg/t5AmNJj), still on tumblr at lakesandquarries. feedback is always loved. thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> title from July by Boy. please listen to it.
> 
> find me on tumblr or instagram or pretty much any website @ lakesandquarries!


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